Lindsey J. Smith. Users and Special Collections: Access and Outreach Awareness at the University of North Carolina’s Wilson Library. A Master’s Paper for the M.S. in L.S degree. April, 2015. 53 pages. Advisor: Denise Anthony
This study examines the experiences of a sample of users of the Wilson Library Special Collections. Issues of accessibility, outreach effectiveness, and user satisfaction are addressed, including access to digitized collections, user awareness of outreach activities, and patron experiences with the spaces and resources available for their use. Survey results are discussed and suggest that, from this small sample, user priorities and those of archivists may differ in their scope. When developing collections, outreach programs, collection websites, and other user tools and spaces, special collections professionals should take into account their desired audience and examine their needs as objectively as possible to make such activities as successful as possible.
Headings:
Library special collections
Archives -- Public relations
Users of archives
USERS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS: ACCESS AND OUTREACH AWARENESS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA’S WILSON LIBRARY
by
Lindsey J. Smith
A Master’s paper submitted to the faculty of the School of Information and Library Science of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in
Library Science.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
April 2015
Approved by
Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Literature Review 11
Methods 24
Results 27
Discussion 35
Introduction
Special collections have traditionally supported specific purposes and goals,
particularly the appraisal, accession, retention, and access of materials of permanent or
enduring value. University archives maintain institutional records of the university itself,
primarily serving faculty researchers and the administration of the university. However,
many institutions also maintain extensive special collections with a broader scope in
collection and acquisition.
These special collections, particularly in academic research institutions, have long
been regarded as the domain of faculty and professional researchers, and even graduate
students can sometimes feel overwhelmed in the reading room.1 These repositories hold
relatively rare and unique documents and materials, considered critical for original
research in many fields, but which also often act as a cultural heritage collection for the
community. Though the primary function of a university special collection is to serve
visiting researchers, outreach is a critical and often underemphasized part of many
institutions’ missions. And even though many of the users in these traditional groups
perform research activities in special collections environments, they may not know about
all of the other outreach programs and events that many institutions offer in addition to
their reading rooms and manuscripts. In addition to outreach, there is also the problem of
access to special collections.
1 Smith, Steven Escar. 2006. "From “Treasure Room” to “School Room”: Special Collections and
According to the Society of American Archivists (SAA), access is a core
professional value. A primary impetus of access is to “promote and provide the widest
possible accessibility of materials, consistent with any mandatory access restrictions,
such as public statute, donor contract, business/institutional privacy, or personal privacy.”
In addition, there is a social responsibility inherent in the profession. Archival and
special collections materials are a part of the larger cultural record, often of a local or
regional community in addition to the university itself. 2 Though digitization programs
and online exhibits have increased the accessibility of a small number of special
collections, processing backlogs, confusing user aids, and a lack of understanding of user
wants and needs contribute to the continued perception of special collections as difficult
to use, and only available for those users who wish to pursue “serious” topics.
A key part of assessing the ability of special collections patrons of all types to
actually use these important materials is to study the users themselves. Though there are
definite trends that archives and special collections can draw upon to make their
collections more accessible, such as digitization of materials and the redevelopment of
finding aids and other traditional archival tools, each institution has its own particular
community of patrons who have different needs and desires. Tapping into those needs
and understanding the user community of the special collection is a critical part of
ensuring that the outreach efforts of the institution are successful and that the collections
themselves are accessible to the variety of users that may utilize special collections
resources.
2 Pearce-Moses, Richard. "A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology | Society of American
Importance for University Special Collections
Many special collections are realizing the need for outreach programs because
they hold materials that have a broad potential interest, not just for the researchers who
make up the institution’s primary user group.3 Service to users within university special
collections has continued to diversify, and with the proliferation of digitization initiatives
and remote access to material, it is likely that librarians and archivists in these institutions
will only have a wider variety of users in the future.4 Understanding the needs of the core
group of special collections users can help these institutions as their user groups expand.
The way individuals go about obtaining information may differ in some respects
depending on whether the user is a professional researcher, student, or community user,
but an analysis of user needs can point out general issues of collection accessibility that
can benefit all users in the future. Understanding user desires for outreach events can
also promote the collection to a wider audience and potentially increase the use of special
collections by all user groups, not simply those that most commonly utilize the material.
University archives and special collections are often called to justify their own
existence in the university system, and the potential increase in collection use that can
occur as a result of effective public outreach is one way to do so. At many institutions,
there is a mandate to justify the expense of university funds on archival collections and
materials, which can be costly and time consuming to acquire, process, and preserve.
Outreach can be a way to that those expenses are worthwhile.
3 For example, the special collections of UNC’s Wilson Library (http://library.unc.edu/wilson/about/), the
David M. Rubenstein Library at Duke University (http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/about/library), and Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Library (http://rarebooks.library.nd.edu/), among others.
4 The North Carolina Collection is constantly digitizing material in order to make it publicly available and
Outreach provides a venue for university archives and special collections to
showcase their materials and value not just to the university administration but to the
larger public. In order to be successful in outreach, archivists and special collections
librarians must continue to “consider the image they unconsciously project.”5 Efforts
have been made to make archives and special collections more accessible through
digitization and also through classroom instruction, which strives to familiarize novice
students with archival and special collections material, but the image of the closed
archive still exists in the minds of many potential users. In addition to making archives
more accessible and less exclusive, institutions need to assess their users above all.
Outreach programs and events that try to address these problems may not be well
publicized, and even if they are, they may not be organized or scheduled in a way that
allows even the special collections’ core group of users to attend or participate. Learning
more about what users and patrons would desire in outreach programs could give insight
into how to effectively schedule these events for maximum attendance and patron
participation. Special collections and their staff do not operate in a vacuum, but rather in
a world of competitive funding opportunities within the university and a continued need
to showcase the importance of their collections in order to maintain and provide access to
these materials in the future.
One important way to do that is to make sure that researchers, faculty, and
graduate students, often the main users of special collections, know about the wealth of
information available to them that may not be directly related to their area of study. In
addition, outreach events can make other potential users in the community aware of
5 Blais, Gabrielle and David Enns. 1990. "From Paper Archives to People Archives: Public Programming in
important resources the special collections have, such as those at the Southern Folklife
Collection in Wilson Library, which is an incredible wealth of resources on local music
history and popular culture, particularly from the Chapel Hill area. Special collections
contain a vast array of items, and many of those are relevant to personal projects and
other forms of research that are not directly related to scholarly work. Outreach
programs are a great way for these institutions to show their connection to their
community and to these types of projects in a way that might increase collection use by
both current core groups of users and community members who may not have been aware
of these materials. But, to be successful, outreach programs need to be relevant to the
audience the institution wishes to draw in, and these programs are often under publicized
and difficult to find information about, which is another problem of accessibility for
special collections users and potential users
Accessibility and Outreach
Though many special collections contain and preserve materials related to a larger
community history and heritage in addition to scholarly research, there are often barriers
to accessing materials held on university campuses. First, there is the simple matter of
awareness. Undergraduate students as well as the general community population may be
totally unaware of the existence of these unique cultural artifacts. Even graduate students
do not often venture into special collections institutions unless specifically required by a
course, assignment, or scholarly research project. Special collections and other archival
parts of ensuring special collections remain relevant in a fast-changing environment.6
After all, what is the purpose of expending funds on preservation if no one utilizes the
materials? Indeed, why work to preserve the cultural record if we are not interested in
reaching out to our users and assessing their experiences, needs, and desires when
utilizing our materials?
The popular perception of special collections does much to dissuade many users
from venturing into their doors, especially if librarians and special collections staff
continue to perpetuate the idea that rare materials are reserved for “scholarly” or
“professional” use.7 This stigma can dissuade undergraduate students and even graduate
students from utilizing special collections unless absolutely necessary, pushing away a
significant group of users. Professionals and researchers in the field have been promoting
a broader definition of access within archives and special collections, and with that
broadening there has been a larger emphasis about the importance of archival outreach
becoming a regular and key component of professional life, not simply a side project.8
In the university setting, special collections outreach still focuses primarily on the
core user groups of faculty and researchers. There has, however, been an increased
interest in the promotion of special collections to undergraduate students, particularly in a
classroom setting.9 Many strategies that have been effective to make special collections
6 Torre, Meredith E. 2008. "Why should Not they Benefit from Rare Books?" Library Review 57 (1):
36-41. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/00242530810845044; Stam, Deirdre C. 2006. "Bridge that Gap! Education and Special Collections." RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage 7 (1): 16-30.http://rbm.acrl.org/content/7/1/16.full.pdf.
7 Stam, Deirdre C. 2006. "Bridge that Gap! Education and Special Collections." RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage 7 (1): 16-30.http://rbm.acrl.org/content/7/1/16.full.pdf.
8 Smith, Steven Escar. 2006. "From “Treasure Room” to “School Room”: Special Collections and
Education." RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Cultural Heritage 7 (1): 31-39.http://rbm.acrl.org/content/7/1/31.short.
9 Duff, Wendy M. and Joan M. Cherry. 2008. "Archival Orientation for Undergraduate Students: An
more visible and accessible to students would also be appropriate for public outreach.
The continuing digitization efforts of many institutions, for example, make materials
available remotely to the University community as well as the general public. In
addition, collaboration with faculty as well as community partners can help special
collections create outreach programs such as exhibits, lectures, and other events to reach
out to the public as well as their core user groups while maintaining their commitment to
further the goals of the University and the special collections as well.10
In addition to the lack of outreach efforts from many academic institutions,
special collections are some of the most intimidating sections of any library for novice
users. There are many barriers to accessing these records that go beyond simply
promoting collections and increasing awareness of the availability of these materials.
Though digitization efforts have made some of those barriers less problematic, the nature
of closed stacks special collection means that finding interesting information must
become methodical and not spontaneous for a user to be successful. Browsing the
shelves for interesting looking titles or materials is not an option in most special
collections libraries. Even online browsing can be less than helpful, depending on the
collection’s search engine and use of controlled vocabulary. In addition, most users are
substantially less adept at using the materials archives provide patrons that try to facilitate
a kind of browsing experience, such as online catalogs or subject headings. Finding aids
http://search.proquest.com/docview/57682737?accountid=14244.; Buehl, Jonathan and Chute. 2012. "Training in the Archives: Archival Research as Professional Development." College Composition and Communication 64 (2): 274; Dietz, Brian. 2005. Getting Undergrads into Archives: Educational Outreach Efforts of University Archives, Manuscript Departments, and Special Collections.
https://auth.lib.unc.edu/ezproxy_auth.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=llf &AN=69369781&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
10 Harris, Valerie A. and Ann C. Weller. 2012. "Use of Special Collections as an Opportunity for Outreach in the Academic Library." Journal of Library Administration 52 (3-4): 294-303.
doi://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2012.684508.
continue to be difficult and unintuitive, particularly for inexperienced users, whether
from the public or university community.11
Outreach and marketing can be powerful tools to reach out to a wide variety of
special collections constituencies. Promotion and marketing are not new in the realm of
public library work, but the implementation of successful marketing and outreach efforts
in the world of academic libraries and special collections is still evolving as the mandate
for such outreach has shifted from attracting donors and promoting special collections as
a repository. Instead, many special collections and rare book collections must continue to
prove their relevance to administration in a climate of often scarce funding. One of the
most critical ways in which any special collection can argue for its own importance in the
university system is through proving its collections are worth the costs of preservation,
namely, that they are being used by patrons. In a profession that is increasingly
promoting itself as user-centered, it is important to conduct studies and collect
information about the actual users of special collections materials in order to serve them
better. In this light, outreach efforts that work to make special collections relevant and
inviting to a wide audience of users may serve the needs of all, as more users can mean
more funding which serves researchers, librarians, university administrators, and the
public community as well.12
11 Traister, Daniel. 2003. "Public Services and Outreach in Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections
Libraries." Library Trends 52 (1): 87-108.
http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/docview/57594625?accountid=14244.
12 Traister, Daniel. 2003. "Public Services and Outreach in Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections
Libraries." Library Trends 52 (1): 87-108.
Research Question
The importance of outreach and access seems to be a pertinent issue in university
special collections. Outreach programs can increase the perceived worth of special
collections materials by encouraging their use by a larger number of patrons and by
increasing the visibility of the special collections institution as a potential repository for
additional materials. Much of the information housed in special collections in
universities has been collected with a specific purpose, and often there are unique
collections that go unnoticed by researchers. It is not enough to simply maintain that
collections are “available” and make little effort to dissolve the barriers that prevent users
of all kinds from interacting with special collections materials. Outreach efforts can
serve many purposes, and they do not have to diverge from the institution’s goals of
promoting and furthering the goals of the University itself. Outreach programs and other
methods of increasing access to special collections materials can serve the needs of the
public as well as the university community, leading to more partnership and use of
special collections materials.
This research project investigated the ability of users to access UNC special
collections, particularly those housed in Wilson Library, as well as their experience when
using special collection materials. It also examined user awareness current outreach
efforts and user perception of Wilson Library’s services in general. In light of the issues
surrounding access, awareness, and outreach in special collections, this research study
addressed a few key questions:
• What is the user experience when accessing Wilson Library’s Special Collections?
• How knowledgeable are users about Wilson Library’s special collections?
• How might the user experience inform future efforts to raise community awareness of Wilson collections?
Literature Review
Within the field of archives and special collections, the topic of outreach has been
widely discussed in the professional literature, particularly in the late 1980s and early
1990s. The Society of American Archivists did not even include outreach in its basic
glossary in 1974, and a large portion of the professional discussion about outreach in
these years centered on theory and opinion.13 The definition of outreach was still being
debated by professionals in the late 1980s, and in 1991, in an issue of Archivaria
dedicated to “Public Programming in Archives,” there was extensive discussion of the
position of outreach in the profession, where it seemed to have continued to be “an
afterthought.”14 It seemed obvious to professionals that the archives were becoming a
more popular institution, particularly as cultural heritage and other similar industries
emerged, showing that the public was in fact often interested in historical and cultural
activities.15 In 1991, Archivaria published an entire special issue devoted to outreach in
archives which included many calls for archivists to make outreach a more critical and
integrated part of their activities. 13
See for example Gracy II, David B, “Is There a Future in the Use of Archives?”. Archivaria [Online], Volume 1 Number 24 (Summer 1987) p. 3; Cate, Ann Ten, “Outreach in a Small Archives: A Case Study”. Archivaria [Online], Volume 1 Number 28 (Summer 1989) p. 28; Wilson, Ian E. “Toward a Vision of Archival Services,”. Archivaria [Online], Volume 1 Number 31 (Winter 1990-91) p. 91.
14Blais, Gabrielle, and Enns, David. "From Paper Archives to People Archives: Public Programming in the
Management of Archives" Archivaria [Online], Volume 1 Number 31 (1 January 1990);Ericson, Timothy. ""Preoccupied With Our Own Gardens": Outreach and Archivists" Archivaria [Online], Volume 1 Number 31 (1 January 1990) p. 116.
15Craig, Barbara. "What Are the Clients? Who Are the Products? The Future of Archival Public Services in
Though such professional discussion is extremely valuable as archivists and
archives continue to define their roles in society and the description of the archivist’s job
evolves, in this early segment of the literature it provided few guidelines or studies on
how exactly to perform outreach activities. Though archivists seemed to agree that
outreach was critical and necessary as a professional function, they had very few
suggestions that illuminated concrete strategies to increase user access and awareness of
archival materials. In addition, the vast majority of this discussion focused on public
archives, state archives, and other institutions that, ideally, served any individual who
wished to use the archive. Absent from much of these opinion pieces and articles was the
issue of special collections and those materials often held at academic institutions. These
materials, and those held in private archives, seem to have been considered a category of
their own, where use could be restricted to a particular set of the population based on
institutional missions and other considerations.
As technology has moved forward by leaps and bounds, however, and special
collections holdings have been rapidly digitized to provide better access and availability
to patrons, the question of outreach has resurfaced. To whom should these materials be
accessible? What is the duty of archivists in university-held special collections to their
users? Who, indeed, are the users of these documents? With the increase in connectivity
and visibility that is often offered through the Internet, social media, and digital
collections among other things, archivists have had to consider expanding the traditional
notion of an academic special collection, as Michelle Visser suggested in 2003.16
16 Visser, Michelle. 2003. "Inviting in the Rabble: Changing Approaches to Public Service and Access in
Outreach is not a problem that the field has conquered by any means. As recently
as 2013, archivists have been encouraged to “ become more proactive in helping the
outside world discover the sorts of records available within the repository,” think outside
the outreach box, and welcome more users into the collections by reaching out, not
simply waiting for users to discover the unique and valuable materials contained in
special collections and archives.17
Access
The Society of American Archivists defines access as “The ability to locate
relevant information through the use of catalogs, indexes, finding aids, or other tools. - 2.
The permission to locate and retrieve information for use (consultation or reference)
within legally established restrictions of privacy, confidentiality, and security
clearance.”18 A related term, accessibility, is often used when discussing issues of
access, and is defined as “The characteristic of being easily reached or used with a
minimum of barriers. - 2. The ability to locate relevant information through the use of
catalogs, indexes, finding aids, or other tools. - 3. The permission to locate and retrieve
information for use (consultation or reference) within legally established restrictions of
privacy, confidentiality, and security clearance.”19
Massive processing backlogs prevent users from seeing and utilizing large
amounts of special collections materials. In addition, lack of knowledge of archival tools
17 Gelfand, Aleksandr. 2013. "If we Build it (and Promote it) they Will Come: History of Analog and
Digital Exhibits in Archival Repositories." Journal of Archival Organization 11 (1-2): 49-82. doi://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332748.2013.882160.
18 "A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology." Society of American Archivists.
http://www2.archivists.org/glossary (accessed October 8, 2014).
can make the search process seem intimidating and difficult, discouraging new users to
come and utilize special collections material in person..20 These issues make access an
important problem in the profession. Digitization is one piece of the outreach puzzle that
has shown great promise for increasing access to special collections material for all user
groups. In academic libraries, journal databases provide remote access to students and
faculty, increasing the use of library resources in and outside of the physical building.
Many archives have also digitized massive numbers of documents, creating online
exhibits, and allowing remote access to collections online as well as in the physical
archive. Many of these collections are available to anyone who wishes to see them,
unlike the journal databases at many academic libraries. With so much material
theoretically available for the public to access, it is important that archives also make that
material accessible, ensuring that the material itself or the system does not present
unnecessary barriers to the user who wishes to investigate special collections holdings.
Increasing access to special collections for a wider variety of patrons brings up
many of the anxieties that academic librarians and their institutions have debated when
discussing the issue. There is a concern that providing access to a community broader
than the “primary users” of an institution will divert resources and staff in ways that are
economically disadvantageous and decrease the ability of the special collection to
effectively carry out its mission. There is, and likely will always be, a serious tension in
both academic libraries and special collections between those who wish to provide the
highest level of service to the institution’s “primary users” and those who believe that
20 Jones. 2004. “Hidden Collections, Scholarly Barriers: Creating Acces to Unprocessed Special
there is a broader mission to serve those who would use special collections, whoever they
might be.21 The decision to serve non-traditional users will ultimately lie with a
particular institution and their mission, but many university special collections emphasize
the larger community as an important part of their collections’ audiences and user
groups.22 In addition, with special collections and rare materials, there are security and
preservation concerns to take into account when debating the idea of community access.23
A higher rate of use of materials may mean that they degrade more quickly than they
otherwise might. However, the principle core value for any archive is to promote use,
without which preservation is a somewhat futile endeavor.
Particularly within university special collections, there has been little research on
public access. Many institutions restrict access to materials to those described or
registered as “researchers,” though technically the collections may be open to the
community. Though academic libraries have been relatively open to allowing
community access to their resources and collections, the same is not necessarily true for
special collections and rare books collections. Mandatory registration for access to
physical archival materials is common, and some institutions simply restrict access to
those with permission to access archival materials, which often effectively restricts those
items to university affiliated individuals only. Despite these concerns, there is some
suggestion within academic library research that granting community access to materials
21 Weber and Lawrence, 2010; Lloyd M. Jansen, “Welcome or Not, Here They Come: Unaffiliated Users of
Academic Libraries,” Reference Services Review 21, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 7–14.
22 "From the Director." UNC Chapel Hill Libraries. http://library.unc.edu/wilson/about/director/ (accessed
October 18, 2014).
23 Hang Tat Leong, Jack. 2013. "Community Engagement - Building Bridges between University and
may foster a sense of good will from public users, potentially increasing their willingness
to donate to various programs or development efforts in the future.24
There seems to be a general consensus among professionals in public archives
that the traditional tools of the institutions, such as finding aids and other materials are
needlessly complex and tend to serve the needs of the archivist much more than the needs
of the patron. Many users, both novice and experienced, tend to find them difficult to
use.25 Archival search engines are also a problem, as most employ controlled vocabulary
and the level of archival description for different parts of an institution’s holdings may
vary quite widely. The interfaces of online catalogs and finding aids can be difficult to
parse, leading to confusion for somewhat experienced users and especially for those that
may be new to archival materials. User expectations are influenced by their experiences
in other parts of the digital world as well. Some user needs can be easily met through
simple web interfaces and search tools, but much of the time archives and special
collections do not support these interactions well. Users of all types, even those who are
conducting more in-depth queries and investigations into archival material, are now used
to convenient tools and easy-to-use interfaces when accessing both digital and physical
material.26
Other potential barriers to access include relatively simple items such as the
operational hours of university special collections. Many are only available during
specific hours on weekdays, with limited weekend service. In addition, though many
24Dole, Wanda V. and J. B. Hill. 2012. "Assessing the Good Will of Community Users in an Academic
Library." New Library World 113 (5): 270-280. doi:10.1108/03074801211226355.
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/03074801211226355.
25 Diedrichs, Carol Pitts. 2009. "Discovery and Delivery: Making it Work for Users." The Serials Librarian
university institutions are making collections and finding aids available online, and often
provide an online catalog or search feature to find collection items, it is rare that the
online catalog contains information or records for all special collections holdings.27 Even
the physical space of a special collections department or institution can be a barrier to
access. The architecture and layout of buildings, stacks, and reading rooms often reflect
an archival philosophy of a closed collection, where stacks and materials are not
accessible to users, who must go through the archivist to obtain their desired items for
investigation. Some special collections and university archives, such as the University of
Arizona, have tried to remedy this solution by renovating special collections spaces in
ways that facilitate increased access, whether by providing workstations that enable
online catalog access or re-working reading room space to make room for educational
exhibits and community meeting spaces.28
Overall, it seems that there is much professional interest in expanded special
collections access, particularly in the digital era. There is recognition that university
special collections and archives often have a user base that is expanding and that the uses
of archival material are becoming more varied. However, there still seem to be relatively
few examples of studies that investigate specific barriers that discourage access to special
collections or strategies special collections institutions could employ to help diminish
these barriers. In particular, studies that gather user opinions on these issues and have
patrons describe their own experiences with special collections material are difficult to
find.
27 Morales, M. and J. Rosen. 1999. "Accessing the Old and the New: Outreach Via Web Exhibits and
Archive Collections at the University of Arizona Library." Reference Librarian (67/68): 57-67.
28 Morales, M. and J. Rosen. 1999. "Accessing the Old and the New: Outreach Via Web Exhibits and
Because physical access to special collections material often requires registration with the
institution, and asking for help using special collections material is often intimidating,
access, particularly by novice users, may be limited to the small amount of digitized
material that might be available on the web, When users do visit special collections, their
search for material often necessitates navigating through difficult-to-use tools, along with
potential restrictions that material must be requested in advance. Such barriers seem to
especially prevent the kind of spontaneous and curious investigation that is common
when a researcher or user isn’t sure what material they may be interested in All of these
various barriers to access can prevent special collections from reaching a wider variety of
users, both potential and current.
Outreach
In most cases, increasing access also involves increasing awareness, which is
generally accomplished through outreach programs. Outreach has always been a part of
special collections work, but not until the 1980s and 1990s did it come to be considered a
truly key part of the job of the special collections librarian or archivist. It is in this period
where some of the most prominent discussion of outreach begins to occur in the
professional literature, with many professionals calling for a re-evaluation of the role of
outreach in the profession.29
Many argued that archivists and special collections librarians had done
themselves a disservice by focusing primarily on collection, description, arrangement,
29 Blais, Gabrielle, and Enns, David. "From Paper Archives to People Archives: Public Programming in the
Management of Archives" Archivaria [Online], Volume 1 Number 31 (1 January 1990);
and other admittedly key parts of special collections and archival work. However, the
institution’s constituents were not a part of this process, and many did not understand
anything about the importance of archives and special collections to society and as a
method of preserving and maintaining cultural heritage. Many members of the public
had no real knowledge of the availability of these institutions, didn’t really understand
what they were for, and, perhaps most critically, did not find much use for these types of
institutions. In many cases, there was serious questioning about the need for archival
institutions at all, though their core group of users would almost certainly have argued
otherwise.30
Most research on outreach in special collections as well as academic libraries has
focused on outreach from the library’s perspective. There are many studies that research
the effectiveness of particular marketing plans or outreach programs developed by library
staff.31 However, few studies look at outreach from the perspective of the user. For
example, a team of researchers studied the desires of public library directors in
Tennessee, but did not extend the survey to see what skills, programs, or workshops
might interest the users of the library.32 This study showed that partnership with
community libraries based on the desire of the community of public librarians to partner
with the institution can be an effective method of outreach, but did not extend their
research to other user groups.33
30 Gracy, David B. 1984. "Archives and Society: The First Archival Revolution." The American Archivist
47 (1).
31 Song, Yoo-Seong. 2006. "Evidence-Based Marketing for Academic Librarians." Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 1 (1): 80.
32Busbee, Michael, Heidi Busch, and Jim Nance. 2014. "Non-affiliated Users' Access in Tennessee
Academic Libraries." Southeastern Librarian 62, no. 1: 3-9. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed October 8, 2014).
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) developed
a marketing strategy for the business library, but only looked at current business school
users of the library. Finding on-campus partners to extend the visibility of the library was
shown to be a viable opportunity for outreach extension, but this study started from the
library and its staff, not from the community.34 Thus, the partner programs were those
that the library staff might have seen as interesting to the community and other users, but
community input was not gathered when selecting these outreach partners. For all the
focus on the need for more outreach to a larger audience, there seems to be less focus in
the profession on what outreach methods the larger community is interested in seeing. A
few studies focused on access to academic libraries from the user perspective, say more
but few have investigated those strategies in regards to special collections specifically.
One study of ARL libraries conducted in 2006 examined the outreach efforts by special
collections institutions to K-12 users, generally accomplished through classroom visits.
This represents a promising avenue of outreach to the public, through both students and
teachers, which could potentially reach parents, relatives, and other community members.
While many of the special collections investigated did provide tours and guided activities
with students, most had relatively few groups attend per year.35
Overall, the study of outreach in university special collections overwhelmingly
focuses on programs and strategies that theoretically could bring in more users, promote
access, or increase the visibility of the collections. Many of these have been extremely
effective, particularly if they tie in with current popular culture. But more research needs
34 Song, Yoo-Seong. 2006. "Evidence-Based Marketing for Academic Librarians." Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 1 (1): 80.
35 Visser, Michelle. 2006. Perspectives on… special collections at ARL libraries and K-12 outreach:
to be done to address the user side of this equation. It is not guaranteed “if you build it,
they will come.” Or even if special collections promote materials, users will come. If
public outreach is truly an important part of the archival profession, it is critical to study
our users and assess what their needs and desires are when using archival collections.
What outreach activities would they be interested in? How can special collections
implement programs that will raise awareness and use of their materials by interested
parties?
Special Collections
Much of the field research into special collections specifically has focused on
ways that the institution can make the user experience better and increase access to
materials. One of the larger challenges for special includes processing and making
available “hidden collections,” which often include collections of materials that are
known only to the archivists and are not accessible to any category of users. In addition,
promoting the importance of special collections in the university community and
environment remains a priority. Special collections must increasingly prove their worth
and their effectiveness to receive the funding that continues to be in short supply. Many
institutions are encouraged to actively promote the use of archival materials for
“whatever purposes people find constructive and interesting.”36
Though all of those issues are critical to the success of special collections
institutions, relatively few professionals have asked what kind of research experience
users are interested in when they visit. Some professional dialogue has discussed special
collections and their users in the wake of Web 2.0 technology becoming part of everyday
life. Overall, it seems most users expect their experience on a special collections website
or a library website to be similar to the experiences they have with search engines like
Google or shopping sites like Amazon. Users expect a high level of service quality,
interfaces that are easy to use, and that standard functions like searching work in the same
ways that they do on the internet in general.37 The same could be said of those who visit
the archive in person, not simply through an online interface. Traditional user aids lag
behind the expectations of archival users, especially those who are not familiar with
archival investigation.
Today, a wide variety of users have access to some form of Internet technology
through which they could access information or special collections materials remotely.
However, a large majority of special collections institutions do not have any kind of
web-accessible information available for potential users. This is a critical challenge when
digital access could be a powerful way to address the often intimidating experience of
using archival materials in person
A 2009 survey of special collections librarians in college and research libraries
revealed that, at the time, many archives had no online presence, and that digital access
was being demanded by users in a time when archival collections are increasing and
funding is often dramatically decreasing. Much of the rare and unique material continues
to be hidden from users, either because of slow processing or due to a lack of online
37 Diedrichs, Carol Pitts. 2009. "Discovery and Delivery: Making it Work for Users." The Serials Librarian
availability.38 This poses an interesting problem for special collections institutions.
Online access is one of the primary outreach methods suggested to improve access to and
awareness of special collections, and yet many organizations do not make materials
available online, or have very few documents or collections that have been digitized.
Along with issues of remote access, researchers have studied undergraduate
students as their primary user population when investigating special collections. Many
researchers have conducted a variety of user studies that focus on the impact of research
assistance, instruction, and other programs on undergraduate students who are often new
to the special collections and to primary source research.39 This concentration on
undergraduate students is likely because they are one of the higher concentrations of new
users to special collections and archives, and they are a relatively convenient group to
study in a university setting. There are few studies that explore similar interactions or
programs aimed at other new users. Many of the same characteristics , such as being
unfamiliar with archival procedures, needing assistance with reference and the user aids
available to them, and potentially being new to primary source research in general are
likely to exist in unaffiliated special collections users, or even incoming graduate students
38 Dooley, Jackie. 2011. The OCLC research survey of special collections and archives. LIBER Quarterly 21 (1): 125-37.; Erway, Ricky. 2012. Increasing access to special collections. LIBER Quarterly 21 (2): 294-307.
39 See as Examples: Daniels, Morgan and Elizabeth Yakel. 2013. "Uncovering Impact: The Influence of
or visiting researchers. Some investigation into outreach techniques has emerged, with
exhibits, lectures, and other modes of outreach being suggested as successful and useful
models to promote community engagement with special collections materials.40 In
general, however, there have been few empirical studies which examine a variety of users
of special collections and their perceptions.
Methods
This study contributes to the continuing professional dialogue concerning more open
access to special collections material through an investigation of current users at UNC’s
Wilson Library. The Wilson library is home to several special collections, including the
Southern Historical Collection (SHC), the Southern Folklife Collection (SFC), and the
North Carolina Collection (NCC), as well as the University Archives. For the purposes
of this study, only the users of the SHC, SFC, and NCC will be included, to maintain the
focus on university special collections. I distributed a link to an online to users of both
Wilson Library reading rooms as well as through relevant listservs throughout the
university including the School of Information and Library Science and the History
department. This provided a simple method to gather user responses.
I made the shortened web survey URL available to Wilson Library users during a
variety of working hours over a period of one month. The survey gathered information
about the users’ purpose in coming to Wilson Library, their feelings about the
collection’s accessibility and ease of use, and also collected pertinent demographic
information to ensure that there is a sample of non-affiliated users included in the survey
40 Gelfand, Aleksandr. 2013. "If we Build it (and Promote it) they Will Come: History of Analog and
results. A $50 gift card drawing was used as an incentive to encourage more survey
participants.
Questionnaire items included both scaled and open-ended questions to capture
nuances in user perception of the accessibility and ease of use of the special collections,
as well as user awareness of current outreach programs that Wilson Library has
undertaken within the past year. Open-ended questions covered barriers to access,
possible improvements on outreach programs, and user satisfaction with current
conditions of service in Wilson’s special collections. Measures and techniques from
Measuring Quality: Performance Measures in Libraries were employed to collect data
about each of these target areas. The indicators supplied in this guide are considered
appropriate for academic and public libraries as well as archival and special collections
institutions.
Measuring Outreach Awareness
To measure user awareness of outreach initiatives, questionnaire items measuring
market penetration among non-traditional users were employed. Wilson Library has a
primary audience of faculty, staff, and the students of UNC; however, they have also
designated the broader public community as a secondary audience.41 The survey
questions were written to try and assess what knowledge users have of current outreach
activities, how they came to know about the collections or activities, and included a
section for comments about programs or events the users would be interested in seeing in
the future.
Measuring Ease of Use
To assess the ease of use of Wilson’s special collections to the non-traditional
user, a series of questions about the collection’s ease of use were developed and included
in the questionnaire. These questions investigated user perceptions of the collection and
asked about their experience using materials in Wilson special collections.
Measuring Accessibility
These questions included items asking about the time it took users to request
materials, the registration process to use the collections, opening hours, availability of
staff for reference questions, reading room space for research, and other aspects of
service that may impact the collections’ accessibility to patrons.
Data Analysis
Responses to open-ended questions were analyzed individually. Because
participants were free to skip any questions they wished, there were relatively few
free-response answers. These free-responses tended to cover similar topics, and were used as
examples of items that received particular attention from participants in the general
questionnaire items about Wilson Library, which had a higher response rate than the open
response questions. Descriptive statistics was employed to discuss the overall trends that
were present in the survey data. Due to the small sample size of respondents, little
statistical analysis would have been significant in terms of Wilson Library as a whole.
Therefore, this small pool of responses is described and general trends are discussed in
portion of Wilson Library’s overall user population, there were themes that resulted from
the response data that could provide valuable feedback about the special collections and
the experience of users in Wilson Library. Of particular interest in this study were any
issues users had accessing collection materials as well as specific complaints that were
addressed in some open-response items. This information could be used to focus a
broader study and help improve library services and user experience in the future.
Results
From February 2, 2015 to March 13, 2015 the survey received 25 total responses.
The number of responses is low, perhaps due to outside factors during the course of the
survey, such as when the University closed due to adverse weather conditions. In
addition, the survey distribution in Wilson Library relied on participants to complete it on
their own time and did not require them to participate in the study while they were
researching or using library collections. I used this method so that the study did not
overly inconvenience researchers, who value the time they have in the library to work on
their own projects, but this method could have led to participants forgetting to take the
questionnaire, even if they had intended to when they received the web address at the
library. Though the response rate was not as high as hoped for, the study still yielded
interesting results in terms of the user experience at Wilson Library.
The most-utilized collections were the Southern Historical Collection and the
North Carolina Collection, which is consistent with the character of Wilson Library’s
special collections goals, which include collecting material relating to the history of the
collections in the Library, though Rare Books and University Archives were used by the
least of the survey participants in the last year (Fig. 1). Most of the study participants
identified themselves as graduate students, and one identified as a soon-to-be faculty
member at another institution, so this distribution was not unexpected (Fig. 2).
Figure 1
Figure 2
In terms of access, most users had a generally positive experience with the
collections they used. A variety of aspects of the library user experience were included in
the questionnaire to try and analyze the broad user experience, not just that of the
material request process or the act of finding particular information. One of the most
prominent barriers to access across all of the responses seemed to be the library’s opening
hours. This received specific mention by four of the participants in the open response
questions, suggesting that the hours were problematic enough to warrant more effort in 0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
North Carolina Collec3on
Rare Books
Collec3on Southern Folklife Collec3on
Southern Historical Collec3on
University
Archives None
responding to the survey. Wilson Library is currently open from 9am to 5pm on
weekdays, with limited weekend hours of 9am-1pm on Saturdays and 1pm-5pm on
Sundays. These hours can be restricting for community users, faculty that may not be
from local universities, and even graduate students and other members of Wilson’s main
user groups who have other obligations during weekdays. Study participants generally
accepted the shorter weekend hours, but a few of the respondents specifically mentioned
the weekday hours as being unnecessarily prohibitive to potential users.
Accessibility of Collections
The material request process was a potential barrier to access, as users have to request
material in advance for much research in the special collections at Wilson. This process
can take up to two days or more, which could be a substantial barrier for collection use,
particularly considering the issues that study participants mentioned in regards to the
Library’s hours of operation. The majority of users, at 33% of respondents, did not use
the advance request service when they visited Wilson Library. This was a somewhat
surprising statistic, as archivists require advanced notice to prepare many of the
collection items for researchers. Of the respondents that did request materials, 50%
reported that they received their items in one day or less. It took one to two days for 33%
of respondents, and only one individual reported a request taking more than two days to
be fulfilled. This seems to be a relatively standard wait time, and most of the survey
participants reported that they were mostly satisfied with the request process. One
individual reported that they were less than satisfied with the experience of requesting
Figure 3
Figure 4
The three respondents who answered the open-response questions about the request
process indicated somewhat opposing opinions. Some participants reported that they had
no suggestions or would not change any aspect of the request process while others
suggested that the process for requesting materials was “overly complicated.” Of the
participants who did not request materials and simply browsed the collections or
requested items when they visited the library, the majority found that the material was
readily available to them. The only specific complaint about the request process referred
to an accidental mis-shelving of some requested material by a staff member, which led to 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Yes No
Requested Materials Ahead of Time
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Less than
one day One to two days More than two days Other
the items not being available when they had been requested. It seemed from the response
that this situation was quickly resolved, and so the majority of participants seemed
relatively satisfied with their ability to access and use materials at Wilson Library.
Outreach Programs
To try and evaluate the relative awareness of Wilson Library users about the
outreach programs the library puts on throughout the year, there were two main questions
in the survey. One used events from the Friends of the Library calendar to assess the
general awareness of each event from the past year. The second assessed user interest in
the outreach programs from the past year. A third question was open-ended and intended
to gather suggestions for the kinds of events and programs users would like to see in the
future.
By far the outreach program that most respondents knew about was a heavily
promoted exhibit called “Where is Tobe? Unfolding Stories of Childhood, Race, and
Rural Life in North Carolina.” The exhibit explores these themes through the story of
Tobe, a child who asked his teacher why none of the characters in children’s books
looked like him. The teacher set out to write a book that showcased Tobe’s story, and the
exhibit explores “how this one book opens up to reveal stories within stories — of rural
African American life, of the history of children’s literature, of the 1930s documentary
impulse, and, significantly, of real individual families.”42 This exhibit ran from October
2014 to March 2015, and was heavily advertised through signs around campus and
42
through other means. The related exhibit, Voices from Tobe, was the runner-up for the
most respondents that had heard about the program in some way.
All of the participants had heard of at least some of the various programs and
exhibits, which is certainly a mark of success on Wilson Library’s part. There were only
two programs that none of the participants recognized, a program on Medieval History in
cooperation with King’s College London and a relatively niche program on indie
photobook publishing. The rest of the exhibitions had varying levels of awareness among
respondents, with anniversary and special occasion events being relatively more well
known than some of the library’s programs with a more specific audience in mind. The
exhibits that survey participants indicated they would be interested in differed slightly
from those that they were aware of. Though some respondents did not seem to be as
aware of a relatively new exhibit about the evolution of paper currency in North Carolina,
it was the program with the highest interest level from the group as a whole.
These details show that, though Wilson Library offers a wide variety of programs
for students, faculty, and the general public, not all of the programs are marketed so that
they capture the awareness of their intended audience. The Friends of the Library
calendar that was used to list the outreach events is not accessible to all potential visitors.
In addition, though all of these events are visible on Wilson’s online calendar, only a
select few are showcased on the website with banners and pictures that would likely
Other Findings
In the assessment of user satisfaction with Wilson Library’s services, the vast
majority of participants who responded to these questions indicate that they were
somewhat or very satisfied with items such as the Library’s collections, security, the
helpfulness and knowledge of library staff, and general parts of the user experience such
as Wi-Fi access and study or research spaces. The items that participants indicated that
they were less satisfied with were the Online Catalog and Online Collections, Wilson’s
hours of operation, and the Library’s web page.
The first question of the survey asked participants about their satisfaction with a
variety of Wilson Library services, and the next question asked them about the
importance of those same services. Though most users were satisfied with the Library’s
collections, they did not rank them highest on the list of importance. Only The Southern
Historical Collection was the only individual collection that had a high number of
participants rank it as “Very Important.” Issues such as the Library’s opening hours, the
helpfulness and knowledge of library staff, availability of material, and the online catalog
and collections were the most important things to these users.
The Digitized Collections in particular had a large number of participants rank it
as “Very Important” to them. The same item, however, had the only “Very Dissatisfied”
response to the question about user satisfaction with Wilson Library services. Most users
were only “Somewhat Satisfied” with Wilson’s digitized collections, and one participant
responded in a later question that “photographs had disappeared” from when they had
Despite some of these issues, the overall experience of visitors at Wilson Library
seems to be a good one. Most participants in the study indicated that they were satisfied
with their experience at the library as a whole, and there were even some who expressed
their happiness with their experiences. The primary results that could be used to improve
Wilson Library’s services to their users are those that concern the outreach programs and
the responses about which aspects of library service were important to the users. The
results of this study emphasize that the facilities must be usable and somewhat
convenient, and the collections, while a vital part of drawing many users to Wilson
Library, are sometimes second in concern to the user. The collections like the Southern
Historical Collection draw visitors in initially, but the quality of service, online resources,
and convenience of actually using the materials contained in special collections are the
things that users say are important, and are likely some of the things that will keep them
returning to Wilson Library for other events as well as for research purposes. In their use
of the material at Wilson Library, users emphasized the need for appropriate spaces
available for their use at convenient times along with knowledgeable and helpful staff
that could assist in the research and discovery process. In addition to those needs and
experiences, participants also expressed interest in the variety of outreach programs that
Wilson Library puts together throughout the year. Though there were a large number of
these programs, the majority of participants were aware of only a few, and there were
some that none of the survey participants were aware of at all. Some of these events may
only have been publicized through the Friends of the Library calendar, which is not a
to. However, these events are on the Wilson Library’s web calendar, which is freely
available to all users of the library website.
Discussion
The results of this survey show an interesting trend, particularly for a special
collections library that, according to most of these study participants, is doing almost
everything right. When librarians discuss user-centered services, we often focus on
getting people to the information. . Many recent articles covering special collections
focus on introducing undergraduates to finding aids and other often difficult-to-use items
that are unique to special collections and instructing them so that these novice users are
not uncomfortable using the primary sources contained in special collections. Teaching
new users, creating better user interfaces, and other important work is what usually
comes up in the literature. Other studies focus on digital collections, web interfaces, and
new ways to promote the use of special collections in the digital age.
All of these things are critical to making sure that special collections continue to
serve the needs of our increasing variety of users. However, the results of this particular
study suggest that, in a collection with a relatively successful undergraduate instruction
program, where many of its patrons are relatively familiar with archival tools and
research, it may be beneficial to focus on some of the more basic aspects of the user
experience. No library or special collection is perfect, and seemingly mundane parts of
library services like the availability of reliable wireless internet, adequate study space,
and hours of operation that allow the widest possible use of the material can also
In this particular study, most participants were graduate students who were
relatively familiar with the process of finding information in a special collections library.
Many had used Wilson Library before, so finding aids and other user tools that may be
intimidating to novices proved less of a barrier for these users. Instead, the items that they
rated most important included these most basic parts of running a library.
In particular, the opening hours of the library seemed to be an important factor in these
participants’ library use. Wilson Library is closed after 5:00 PM on weekdays, which
may make it more difficult for students and faculty with variable schedules that may not
often correspond to standard working hours to use collections. Wilson Library has tried to
compromise with additional weekend hours, and though study participants did appreciate
this effort, the fact that the Saturday and Sunday hours were different than the rest of the
week was a point of confusion. The library may want to evaluate changing the operating
hours, though this is understandably a difficult proposition depending upon the Library’s
staffing capacity, budget, and any restraining factors that may limit their ability to change
the current schedule. However, it is important to know about these barriers to user access
and consider the needs and desires of various user groups when developing and working
to improve library services.
Study participants also rated the study spaces and wireless access in Wilson as
important parts of the user experience, and this was an area of satisfaction by the majority
of survey respondents. The design of physical spaces in special collections is an
important aspect of user experience that is often overlooked, particularly in older
buildings like Wilson, because it is often difficult and expensive to alter the makeup of
collections should consider their spaces as well as their collections. Even the most
fascinating material will likely receive less use if the reading room is cramped and
uncomfortable. Easy access to wireless internet and other digital conveniences are a
necessity now that many users employ digital and even cloud computing services to
accomplish note-taking and analyzing the information they gather in the reading room.
In their use of the material at Wilson Library, users emphasized the need for
appropriate spaces that were available for their use at convenient times along with the
importance of knowledgeable and helpful staff that could assist in the research and
discovery process. In addition to those needs and experiences, participants also expressed
interest in the variety of outreach programs that Wilson Library puts together throughout
the year. Though there were a large number of these programs, the majority of
participants had heard of only a few that, and some that none of the survey participants
were aware of at all. Some of these events may only have been publicized through the
Friends of the Library calendar, which is not a resource many students, as the majority of
survey participants, would likely have access to. However, these events are on the Wilson
Library’s web calendar, which is freely available to all users of the library website.
Overall, however, participants seemed more aware of those events that were
publicized, either through marketing material on campus or through departmental efforts,
such as some of the events especially of interest to UNC’s Library Science graduate
students. In order to increase awareness of outreach activities in both the University
community and beyond, Wilson Library staff may consider publicizing their events
somewhat more intensely, giving important events prime webpage space, and also
